On Monday, June 12, 2023 at 11:43:16 AM UTC+1, Futbolmetrix wrote:
For better or worse, he played a big role in making football what it is today.
He was the architect of the Champions League. As the owner of both one of Europe's biggest clubs and and a network of commercial television channels, the prospect of his Milan team or another European giant getting knocked out of the European Cup in the
first round was detrimental to both of the above financial interests. So he commissioned a blue print for a "European Television League" which would have involved 18 of the biggest European teams playing each other in a league competition. UEFA realised
it had to do something to appease the big clubs and came up with the compromise of introducing a group stage in what would have been the quarter final round of the 1991/92 European Cup. The competition was the following year rebranded into the Champions
League and eventually evolved into the tournament we know today. He was also a catalyst for football broadcasting rights moving to pay tv channels, which in some countries was actually quite a controversial thing at the time but is now regarded as normal.
Of course, whether you believe the changes he brought about were good or bad is another matter.
RM
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